PrintBuzz Light Year came into the lives of Ashley Burlingame and her daughter Mary Corbin late in his show career, but this 12-hand pony made a big impression. Ashley agreed to share her memories of the special pony who taught so much to so many children.
It all started when Mary Corbin was ready for a small pony. Just out of the short stirrup ring, we didn’t set out to find the best, just a good safe pony to give her some experience. But boy did we get the best!
After many months of looking for a pony, our trainers, Jack Towell and Liza Towell Boyd, called and asked us to come to Wellington, Fla., to try a few ponies. We tried so many before Buzz appeared. Casey Green was generous enough to let Mary Corbin jump him before a big class, and that was that. He was irresistible!
What a responsibility! I already knew how famous Buzz was before he arrived, and in person (or pony), he just had this way of demanding respect. That little white pony intimidated me! Buzz was king to all who owned him.
As Mary Corbin’s mother, I had to be prepared with bags of mints. He let me know he fully expected to be rewarded for taking care of my child. He kept his eye on me ringside, and he would literally step into my golf cart insisting I give him a mint! I often thought he would knock his head off when he reached in, but he never did. He had years of practice.
When he first arrived, he quickly let us know his expectations by hauling off with Mary Corbin attached to the lead rope.
Casey Green’s mom had warned me he might do that. “All he wants is grass,” she explained. “He doesn’t want to hurt her.”
He did the same thing with Casey. He usually got what he wanted.
He required correct riding. He wouldn’t let his pigtailed riders get away with tipping their bodies or leaning—he would immediately swap leads. Boy, was he a teacher.
He rolled in the mud at any given chance, disguising himself as a pumpkin. He never rolled in the grass. He would find that small patch of mud in the paddock and roll on one side, then the other, until his beautiful white coat was bright orange.
He loved mints and Cheetos and really all food. He was allergic to hay, so he ate a chopped hay substitute like Dengie. To keep him hydrated, we would serve him a mixture of Dengie and water that we called "Dengie stew." He traveled in the trailer with the bucket tied in front of him, and he would arrive at the show with that pink nose completely brown. We didn’t care because it kept him happy.
He lived with Jason Schlotterback (Finally Farm North) in Charlotte, N.C., which was closer to our home than Finally Farm in Camden, S.C. Mary Corbin needed to ride daily, so we were lucky to have the Finally Farm affiliate here in Charlotte. We met the Towells at the shows where they trained Mary Corbin.
A Big Setback
Shortly after we bought him, Buzz ruptured a tendon in his right front leg. Obviously, we were devastated. We had looked for a pony for months, and now my challenge was to rehab a very hurt pony and take care of a very sad little girl.
The injury happened in April of 2005, and he’d just arrived in March. No one knows how the injury occurred; he was fine in the schooling area, and the next second he was dead lame in the ring.
